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Sir Tom Finney

One of England’s greatest footballers who performed dazzling feats for his home town of Preston while working as a part-time plumber

February 15 2014, 2:28pm, The Times

Finney won 76 caps for England and scored 30 goalsGetty

In the golden era between the resumption of football after the Second World War and the beginning of the 1960s, two of the greatest players in the world were both wingers who played for unfashionable clubs in small towns in the North West of England. Stanley Matthews was the mesmerising, dribbling genius for Blackpool while 19 miles away Tom Finney performed similarly dazzling feats for Preston North End. While Matthews might have shaded the honours in celebrity, Finney was, to many sound judges, the better player — and perhaps the greatest English footballer of all.

What is certain is that Finney — who spent his entire career at Preston, his home-town team, as well as winning 76 caps and scoring 30 goals for England — was the…